Ryan Pitman, a Minneapolis-based bus driver, had been brewing craft beer on his own for years. A dream came true when he came across the perfect space to create a brewery in the heart of Minneapolis, on East Lake Street. Ryan shared with us his intention to produce a wide and ever-evolving range of eclectic brews with unusual ingredients. Our intention became to supply the brand with an open identity that put an emphasis on uniqueness.
We soon took note of the rich cultural heritage of the Eastlake Brewery neighborhood. Ryan let us know that he believed his establishment would be frequented by a rotating cast of local characters, and because Eastlake is a small and local business, with success hinging on the quality of the customer experience over anything else, we decided it wasn’t so important to have overly strict and uniform communications, but better to come up with something memorable and fun. This inspired us to create a set of unique characters to represent the community as well as the eclectic brews.
Along with these characters, we developed a range of logos that harken back to the olden days of both Minneapolis and Eastlake Avenue, as well as a set of graphic elements that tip a hat to the city of lakes.
We wanted each logo to be unique and stand on its own. Some of them are completely custom, like the script, the wave pattern, and the Eastlake “E”. For others we used a typeface and modified it, like the block logo with the slab serif and the jug logo. With others, like the round logos, the typeface wasn’t modified at all.
But most importantly, the use of the stamps brings all of the logos together texturally, adding imperfections, distressing the line and distorting the shape of the letterforms.
We had the stamps made on Stamp Street here in Saigon. In Vietnam every company from the largest to the smallest has a corporate stamp that they use for official documents.
Catering to this need you can find small stamp making shops, many of which operate on the same small street. Production methods are limited in Saigon when compared to more developed markets like the USA. But at the same time we can engage with local craftspeople to add a unique flavour to our projects.
We created over 50 stamps for the Eastlake project while testing and producing the logos and characters.
Our cast of working class characters, Minneapolis inspired logos, and unique graphic elements, personify and identify what is at the heart of the brand: finely crafted beers with great character, and the community who share them.
Studio photography: Wing Chan
Rice Creative elsewhere on Identity Designed: UNICEF ZEROawards.
View more identity work from Rice Creative on Behance.
